Jumping through hoops

This question comes from Jen after reading some of the earlier posts on the Legaleasy blog.

What are all the hoops we need to jump to register a business name, domain name and trademark it if that is neccessary?

Thanks for the question Jen. You actually have three questions roled into one, so I'll deal with them one at a time.

Registering a business name
Registering a business name in Australia is really easy. You simply go online to any of the Offices of Fair Trading or Consumer Affairs around the country, or turn up at one of their shopfronts (addresses are online) and complete a fairly simple form, pay a fee of around $80 and voila! I've listed the links for all of those offices below so that you don't have to search for them.

ACT - Office of Regulatory Services
NSW - NSW Office of Fair Trading
NT - Department of Business, Industry and Resource Development
QLD - Office of Fair Trading
SA - Office of Consumer and Business Affairs SA
TAS - Tasmania Office of Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading
VIC - Consumer Affairs Victoria
WA - Department of Consumer and Employment Protection

The things you need to do before you fill in an application for registration of a business name are:

1. Know who the owner will be, whether that is you, a partnership, trust or a company.
2. Do a business name search on www.asic.gov.au so that you know the name you want to register isn't already registered to someone else. You used to have to secure the name first, now you don't, but you do need to list three preferences.

Note, registering a business name is not the same as starting a company and it doesn't create a separate legal entity. The owner of the business name is the legal entity. You can apply for an ABN for the business name that you register and you can use it on bank accounts.

Registration is renewable every three years.

Tips for registering a business name - be careful if you want to try and play on the name of another business. Crazy John's (mobile phone company) successfully sued Crazy Ron's (mobile phone company) for breach of trademark even though there was no problem with registering the name in the first place.

... more tomorrow ..